February 27th | Wrestling With God

We tell ourselves, "If I don't handle it, no one will," or "I can't afford to let go." Pride whispers that we're capable enough, while beneath it lies fear: fear of vulnerability, failure, or betrayal. Doubt creeps in too—maybe God won't come through, or His timing doesn't match ours. So we lean on our own understanding.

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In the darkness by the Jabbok ford, after sending his family ahead, Jacob finds himself alone—and suddenly locked in an all-night struggle with a mysterious "man" who is none other than God in human form (or His angelic representative). As dawn approaches, the man says, "Let me go, for it is daybreak" (v. 26). But Jacob refuses: "I will not let you go unless you bless me." He clings on, even after his hip is dislocated. Then comes the transformation: "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome" (v. 28).

Jacob's stubborn refusal to release his hold captures something profound about us all. Why do we develop such ingrained patterns of stubborn self-reliance? Why do we grip tighter to our own strength, schemes, and control, even when it exhausts us and makes life harder?

From a biblical and human perspective, these habits often form early, rooted in survival, fear, pride, and doubt. Many of us learn self-reliance the hard way—through disappointment, unreliable people, unanswered prayers, or seasons when God seemed silent. We tell ourselves, "If I don't handle it, no one will," or "I can't afford to let go." Pride whispers that we're capable enough, while beneath it lies fear: fear of vulnerability, failure, or betrayal. Doubt creeps in too—maybe God won't come through, or His timing doesn't match ours. So we lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), overestimating our wisdom and underestimating God's. Self-reliance becomes a defense mechanism, but it also becomes a trap: it isolates us, limits what God can do, and turns us into our own gods, chasing control that ultimately slips away like sand.

Jacob embodies this perfectly. His whole life was defined by striving—grabbing Esau's heel at birth, deceiving Isaac, outmaneuvering Laban. He always found a way to "prevail" through cunning, never fully trusting God's promises. But in this wrestle, there's no hiding, no scheming, no games—just raw, face-to-face confrontation. God initiates the conflict, not to destroy Jacob, but to dismantle his self-sufficiency. By touching the hip socket, God shows He could end it instantly, yet He allows the struggle to continue until Jacob is broken enough to cling in desperation rather than fight in strength. The stubbornness that once served Jacob's schemes now becomes the tenacity that refuses to let go until blessing comes.

We resist divine will for the same reasons: pride says we know better, doubt questions God's goodness, and old habits scream that surrender means defeat. Yet God waits—patiently, persistently—on the other side of our brokenness, with open arms. He doesn't abandon us in the fight; He meets us in it to transform us.

Big idea: Prevailing comes through yielding, not overpowering. Jacob "overcame" not by winning the match in his power, but by surrendering his self-reliance and holding on to God alone. In his weakness, he received the blessing he had chased all his life. The limp he carried afterward was a permanent reminder: true strength is dependence on God, not independence from Him.

- Where in your life are you still gripping tightly, refusing to let God "go" until things go your way?

- What fears or past experiences fuel your self-reliance?

- How might God be inviting you today to yield—to trade stubborn striving for clinging trust?

May this truth sink deep today: The God who wrestled Jacob is the same One who invites us to stop fighting Him—and start resting in Him.